1 Peter 1:8-12 

⁸Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. ¹⁰Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, ¹¹trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. ¹²It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

Money matters

Do you know someone who said, “Money doesn’t matter?” Rich people can say without hesitation that money doesn’t matter, but to the poverty-stricken, money matters a lot. The desire of having much money is a common aspiration of the ordinary mindset. They might be envious that people with much money can buy material things that poverty cannot. Relatively, our society considers the rich as superior to poverty.

The richest king of Israel was King Solomon. Someone estimated that Solomon was a multi-billionaire, if his wealth is converted into present generation currency.

Can you readily accept without hesitation what he said in Ecclesiastes 5:10? ¹⁰Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.

Do you love money? Do you love wealth? You will never have enough; you will never be satisfied with your income. If you’ve got bills to pay monthly, you want more income, right? Would that be considered as love of money or wealth? We are warned in 1 Timothy 6:10, ¹⁰For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Money does not cause evil. It is behavior toward money that should concern us. Love of money can cause many griefs to people, and Christians are not exempted. Even church leaders and pastors are confused when they fall in love of money. Money is useful to purchase many things, even temporal happiness and satisfaction but it cannot buy lifelong happiness.

So, how can we attain lifelong happiness and satisfaction? Ecclesiastes 2:26 says, ²⁶To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

If we love God, we please him. To please God, believe him. When we believe him, he gives us eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ, and godly wisdom, knowledge and happiness in our innermost being are included. The term “happiness” that God gives pertains to “joy” in our innermost being. When his Holy Spirit produces joy in us, we want to praise and love him all the days of our life. Have you sensed joy in your heart when you believed in Jesus Christ, even if you have not seen him physically, just yet?

1.  See

⁸Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Faith in Christ produces firm confidence that we see him face to face eventually.

When Christ returns and takes us into his heaven, it would be glorious rejoicing day for believers. Glorious rejoicing is exclusive experience of genuine believers when the Holy Spirit himself produces love, joy and peace in our innermost being. The Lord Jesus Christ declared that we are blessed even if we have not seen him physically yet. Christ has declared in John 20:29, ²⁹Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

The term “blessed” is properly translated as “supremely happy.” Blessedness is the simplest term to describe a totally desirable situation to be experienced in the Lord.

Have you sensed such extreme happiness in your situation, lately? Have you ever observed any favorable transformation in your life after you believed in Jesus Christ?

Even if we have not seen Jesus, we believe him by faith. We are blessed indeed.

What do you consider as blessedness?  What may easily cause you to be happy?

If you were financially stable, does it make you feel secured and happy? If you are terminated from your job and you are not very sure how to support your family, that is a very terrible situation.  It is the time when you can personally prove if you still sense peaceful joy in your innermost being. Have you ever been laid off from your job before?

Laid Off

Employers can easily find numerous reasons to terminate their employees legally.

I personally know a believer who was laid off from his job many years ago.  When this believer proposed a probable project, his immediate supervisors cannot agree with him. They terminated him because of his project proposal. He could have appealed for reconsideration to avoid his termination, but instead he viewed his termination as divine signal that God was leading him to a better detour to God’s better plan for him.

This believer remembered the exact words of Job when he declared in Job 1:21, ²¹The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.

Job was the greatest man in his region, but after he lost all his properties and his children died, he still praised the Lord. Job’s positive response to catastrophe inspired the believer who lost his source of income. Actually, the job was offered to him and he just accepted it. Interestingly, after his termination, it was impressed in his mind that: “If he was employed without applying for it, God can easily give him better opportunity.” Indeed, he is currently working in an environment that he never dreamed or imagined.

Have you ever had a personal experience that you never dreamed or imagined? Can you vividly recall one fascinating experience? Faith is active, if you credited the Lord for it? Has your faith in Christ been rooted and established in love? Make sure of it!

May every one of us desire what Apostle Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:17-20! ¹⁷Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ²⁰Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! 

If you have explored how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, you would love him more. You want to search how you may grow in your relationship with Christ more intimately than what you experience at the moment. That’s for sure!

2.  Search

¹⁰Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, ¹¹trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 

Pray that the Hoy Spirit inspires you know him deeper. His inspiration causes us to search more of his love and we don’t hesitate to testify of our personal transformation. We desire to share about the gospel of salvation through faith in Christ. And, he inspires us to praise and thank him for blessings and favorable answers to prayers.

Prophets of God in the Old Testament were very dependent upon the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God spoke through them and they relayed his message about the coming of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. They prophesied about his birth, his death and his resurrection. Indeed, their prophecy happened according to the Scripture.

Jesus Christ will certainly return. His Holy Spirit inspires us to believe; he enables us to hope for his imminent return. Are you prepared for Christ’s Second Advent? How should we practically prepare for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ?

It says in Ephesians 1:17, ¹⁷The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

Reflect: Sincerely search your heart. If you personally sense yearning and longing, the most practical approach to know the Lord Jesus Christ better is to serve him.

3.  Serve

¹²It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

Prophets of God searched intentionally and very carefully when they predicted circumstances that points to salvation in Jesus Christ. It was not for their personal merits that they preached about Christ; it was for the salvation of all believers in Jesus Christ.

Similarly, if you are concerned of your loved ones, the best gift you can give is to share your faith, what we believe about Christ, and his death and resurrection.

What is it that we actually believe when we say that we have faith in Christ? How do we literally explain, when we say that Christ died for our sins?

The Lord took and crucified all past, present and future sins, iniquities, hidden faults and guilt when Christ was crucified and died on the cross. His blood that was shed on the cross washed all impurities in us so that we become righteous before God.

When Christ’s dead body was buried, our former old self was buried with him. When Christ resurrected from the dead, we resurrected to new life in Christ. Of course, his Holy Spirit enables us to live a lifestyle of godly righteousness.

When Christ was taken into heaven, we expect that he will return and take us and all believers into his heaven and live with him for all eternity. That is what we believe.

Make sure that you memorize those particular realities about what we believe surrounding the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and return of Jesus Christ. Try and explain them to children. If they understand your explanation of the gospel of salvation and they believe, you can easily explain them to potential believers.

Pray and wait for God’s perfect time, and you will identify the potential believer that God has already prepared specifically for you to evangelize or even disciple.

When God’s divine appointment comes, for you to share the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit will remind you what you may say.

Christ said in Matthew 10:18-20, ¹⁸On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. ¹⁹But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, ²⁰for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

God may allow believers to be arrested, if it is beneficial to the advancement of the gospel of Christ. We may not be necessarily arrested, but the Lord may situate us where we can share the goodness of his gift of eternal life. You will certainly sense desire to share with others his gospel of salvation, if you genuinely believe in Christ.

Nervous

I know of a young believer who sensed deep joy in his innermost being while reading the Scripture. He attended Sunday and midweek church services. Intentionally, he listened very carefully when the word of God was preached. And then at God’s perfect time, he sensed a great desire to serve the Lord. He did not know how though.

Mature believers invited him to join an organized evangelism opportunity. He did not have previous experience on how to evangelize, so he read evangelism tracts and books. When the day came to evangelize, his companion cannot speak the local language. So, he was told to share the gospel. He just recited whatever he remembered from the evangelism books he read, and he also read through the evangelism tract he kept in his pocket. Amazingly, their contact positively responded to the gospel. From that time on, this young believer was very enthusiastic in sharing the gospel.

Some of you may have similar or different experience, but the Lord will certainly place you in a situation where you will share to others what you believe about Christ.

Are you ready? Do you feel nervous? Pray very intentionally. God won’t place you where you could be a laughing stock. He certainly situates us where we will praise and thank him for his work in our life. We believe what the Scripture says in Romans 10:11,  ¹¹Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.

Shameful situation is not very appreciated. If possible, we make sure that we can avoid embarrassing circumstances. We want to be appreciated for our efforts. Yet most often, our lifestyle and efforts falls short of what we plan and what others expect of us. We want to do the best we can do, but oftentimes, our best is never enough. Deep within us, we may feel ashamed even if no one openly embarrasses us.

If you know somebody who did their best to live a life acceptable to the society but still falls short of their own expectations, what should you do? What is your advice? If someone feels sorry that they just cannot live up to expectations of others or even their own personal expectations of their selves, how do you counsel them?

-Pray to be filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit of Christ always.

-Pray for them intentionally that they may seek help from the Lord.

-Carefully wait for divine opportunity to share your personal transformation.

-Always, keep evangelism tract in your pocket or back, ready to give.

It says in 2 Corinthians 5:17-20, ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

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